The Indian Railways, which had on Monday “advised” the passengers availing the special trains that started operating on Tuesday to place within the government’s Aarogya Setu mobile application, has now made it “mandatory” to undertake to to so.
While the principles issued by the railways for the 15 pairs of special trains running between Delhi and major cities of the country didn’t say installing the mobile app was mandatory, a late night (12:24 am) tweet by the railway ministry made it compulsory.
“Indian Railways goes to start out out few train services. it’s mandatory for passengers to download Aarogya Setu app in their mobile phones, before commencing their journey,” the tweet said.
Sources said it had been made mandatory after a Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) missive, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers.
Passengers, who do not have the app installed on their mobile phones, might be asked to undertake to to so after their arrival at the station, they added.
However, there is no clarity yet on if and therefore the way the app are getting to be enforced, officials said, because the Supreme Court, during a directive, has said making it mandatory is against the law .
The Aarogya Setu app has been installed on 9.8 crore smartphones so far and is used by the govt. for contact-tracing and disseminating medical advisories to users so on contain the spread of COVID-19.
The MHA has also said installing the mobile app are getting to be a requirement for those living within the COVID-19 containment zones.
